Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Pre-Game: Game #66 Oilers vs. Sharks



Back to back games as the Oilers travel up the California coast. Good effort, poor execution type game from the Oilers last night as they dropped a 4-2 decision to the Ducks. A night of running into good goaltending and just an overall lack of finish on the Oilers part. Jonas Hiller played well for the Ducks and likely got into the Oilers head a bit. Its a tough grind for the Oilers. They really have nothing to play for. Their best players are the 3 kids, the vets are taking turns checking out on the season, the next tier of youngsters are playing in OKC are being "groomed". There is a lot of dead weight on this team that I have no desire to see on the team next year. All these games are a total waste right now. Linus Omark is the recent callup to take a crack at trying to right the good ship Oilers. Omark will get his shot, likely tonight, but he is another shrimp to throw on the barbee. The Oilers, right now, live and die with their power play. They finally got one after going 6 periods without getting one and, lo and behold, they scored on it. Tom Renney looks like a coach thats on his deathbed. He knows he is out of answers and a lot his vets have checked out. The Oilers are playing like a team that has nothing to play for and its showing in the results. The Sharks come into this game losers of their last 2 games. Last game they lost 3-1 to the Blues on Saturday night. The Sharks have such an enigmatic team that I wouldn't be surprised if the Oilers found a way to pull this one out.

Forwards Sharks
- Thornton, Marleau, Pavelski, Couture et al. Oilers defense should be in for a long night.
Defense Sharks
- Burns and Boyle are having fine seasons for the Sharks.
Goaltending Sharks
- Niemi stats are respectable having 5 shutouts on the season.
Special Teams Oilers
- Oilers continue to have the best powerplay in the NHL while the Sharks PK is 28th.
Coaching Sharks
- Its a tossup really, both teams are underachieving. Sharks are better in the standings though.
Intangibles Sharks
- Tough back to back for the Oilers while the Sharks are waiting for them in San Jose.

Oilers:
Hall-Gagner-Hemsky
Omark-NugentHopkins-Eberle
Smyth-Horcoff-Jones
Eager-Belanger-Petrell

Smid-Petry
Whitney-Potter
Sutton-Schultz

Dubnyk
Khabibulin

Sharks:
Marleau-Thornton-Pavelski
Clowe-Couture-Wingels
Winnik-Moore-Mitchell
Winchester-Galiardi-Vandermeer

Boyle-Vlasic
Murray-Burns
Braun-White

Niemi
Greiss

Game Time - 8:30 PM MT @ San Jose on Sportsnet Edmonton.

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